I saw a bit of myself in main character Tory Benning. She's smart and sees things that others might miss but, like me, she also tends to overthink things, usually in the most frightening way. This made her all the more human. As a result, she spends much of the book tightly wound, seeing murderers in even the most innocent around her. Despite this she keeps going, fulfilling a multitude of responsibilities that would make a less distracted person exhausted. I admire her ability to talk herself off the edge, however, and not just protect and show loyalty to friends as she tries to solve the horrible murder, but keep pushing forward, even when terrified.
Tory's background trauma involving murder is horrific but even though I haven't yet read the prior book of this series (a fact I will be remedying soon) the book worked nicely as a stand-alone. The pace of the story moves forward quickly and the relationships between the characters are smoothly established for those like me who are just discovering this series. The parallel stories are intriguing in themselves and author Judith Gonda shows mad writing skills in pulling most of them all together at the end, something I hadn't necessarily expected. Toss in that despite the horrific death of her husband that Tory seems to be moving forward, not living inside her protective shell, and her budding relationship with Jake the PI shows promise. And, oh, saved the best for last. There's a dog, an adorable, feisty Pomeranian that, despite its size, is one of Tory's fiercest protectors.
I don't think I'll ever quite look at a Christmas tree lot quite the same after this. Talk about a Christmas buzz kill, pun intended. Excellent book that I couldn't put down.
Thank you #NetGalley and #BeyondthePage for the ARC.
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